Science Fiction Sexuality, human and alien

Back in 1969, a song soared and became the number one hit. The first words were, “In the Year 2525.” Lots of good ideas and possibilities in that song from popping pills to change your thoughts to test tube babies, virtual reality sex and letting machines do all the work for you while your body atrophies.

Two early pulp SF heros, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon showed a future with rocket ships, robots, ray-guns, alien invasions and various alien races fighting to rule the universe. Shark men and hawk men were featured in both series. Too bad they didn’t explore the sexual possibilities. I always wanted to know how the hawk men made love.

George Lucas was a fan of the Flash Gordon serials, and once wanted to adapt them to the screen. Dino De Laurentiis, who owned the rights, wasn’t interested in Lucas' interpretation, so Lucas wrote Star Wars, which borrowed liberally from the serials. The opening expository roll-up that appeared in episodes of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe became the now-famous opening crawl of each Star Wars episode. Flash Gordon and Dale Arden inspired not only Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, but also their parents, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. Creatures from the snow world of Queen Fria in the Flash Gordon series provided the inspiration for the famous Tauntaun from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

There were two sexual parody movies created, Flesh Gordon and Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders. Needless to say, neither movie did a very good job of exploring the sexual possibilities implicit within the series.

Right now, there are tons of new Fantasy titles out that explore the sexual themes within vampires, werewolves, witches and demons. But when it comes to Science Fiction books, well, that’s where I believe we need to have more sex as a natural and normal part of the characters’ daily lives. After all, no matter if it’s three thousand years into the future or even a hundred thousand years, people and aliens will still need to reproduce.

I want it all, exciting adventures, mysteries, the solving of homicides, mining asteroids, spaceships bringing spacers and traders to new world, psychic phenomena, advances in genetics and physics, new forms of space travel and the emotional and physical roller coaster of sex, love, relationships and family. Instead of giving me the same old, same old stories about a prince and princess of two opposing planets who fall in love despite their differences, give me new stories looking at the daily lives of individuals in the future as they struggle to survive, find a lasting relationship and raise a family.

And, just because the most predominant cultural system on Earth happens to be the heterosexual monogamous marriage, doesn’t mean this type of relationship should apply to everyone, alien and human in your Science Fiction stories. Explore the boundaries there also. Look at cultural evolution and try and extrapolate the way our social beliefs may change and evolve during the next centuries. After all, look at all the changes we’ve experienced during the last four centuries, starting with the American Revolution and change from a monarchy to democracy to equal rights for blacks and women.

Who knows what the future will bring? Especially when you look at the fact that in the present time gays and lesbians are struggling to achieve legal recognition and benefits for committed and long-term relationships. One of the reasons I wrote Christmas Noir and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with hermaphrodite characters was because I wanted to explore the concept of hermaphrodites as the last minority struggling to achieve equal rights on Earth.

Plus, when formulating cultural beliefs for aliens, I also believe that it’s a good possibility that their standards for personal relationships may be entirely different than ours. Don’t be afraid to go out of the box when creating the cultural and social beliefs for your aliens.

C.J. Cherryh does an excellent job of showing cultural evolution in her books. The trading families on the spaceships have evolved into a matrilineal descent system that’s the direct opposite of the traditional patrilineal system on the space stations. She explores human and alien interactions in her Chanur and Foreigner series. In the Chanur series, she extrapolated group marriage for the hani patterned after the lion prides we know on Earth. For the Stsho, she extrapolated an alien species that changes sex because they suffer severe personality and hormonal fragmentation triggered by danger and stress.

Thank you. I hope today’s blog gives everyone a few new thoughts and ideas to contemplate about human and alien sexuality in Science Fiction.

Barbara Karmazin
www.sff.net/people/selkiewife
www.myspace.com/barbarakarmazin